Smith raises doubt over Strike Fighter project

Jeremy Thompson
Tue 26 Jul 2011, 2:00 PM AEST

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Australia has placed a tentative order for 100 of the stealth aircraft.

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Defence Minister Stephen Smith has refused to guarantee Australia will buy 100 US-built F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, saying the project is getting close to the cost and delay overruns Defence built into the order.

The Government has placed a tentative order for 100 of the stealth aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of less-capable F/A-18 Hornets and the now-retired F-111 fighter-bomber.

Speaking in the United States before a meeting with defence secretary Leon Panetta, Mr Smith says Australia has made it clear the order, at present, is for only 14.

"We are also in the market for joint strike fighters beyond 14, but we haven't placed a firm order or commitment for any more than 14," Mr Smith told ABC News Breakfast.

He said Australia built into the project "capacity for slippage" in terms of cost and delay but "we are starting to rub up against that".

"We are very conscious there have been both cost and schedule delays, and that will form a part of my conversations with not just secretary of defence [Leon] Panetta but also with other officials."

Last month, a US Senate committee heard the latest cost estimate - which has nearly doubled from initial targets - would make the fleet of war planes unaffordable.

The Pentagon's top weapons buyer, acquisition chief Ashton Carter, said the program currently had "an unacceptably high acquisition bill".

The cost of each aircraft in the US has ballooned from $US69 million each to $US103 million and the project has been dogged by ongoing design and development flaws.

Australia is paying $3.2 billion for the first 14 at $228 million per aircraft - an initial cost to buy early-build units so pilots can be trained on the advanced fighter-bomber.

The balance of the $16 billion order will be from aircraft made later in the production cycle when prices are expected to be lower.

However a report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute says delays in the F-35 are a bigger concern than the cost.

The defence and security think-tank says the RAAF may have to wait a further seven years before the joint strike fighter enters service - six years after delivery was originally scheduled.